Former Melbourne Storm chairman Rob Moodie talks about the stress of dealing with a scandal

IT'S impossible to know exactly how Essendon insiders are coping with the drugs probe maelstrom, but Rob Moodie has better insight than most.

Moodie was chairman when Melbourne Storm was investigated for NRL salary cap breaches and subsequently stripped of two premierships, and barred from earning any points in 2010.

Moodie said it was a shocking experience.

"Knowing that something bad's happened, particularly when you weren't aware of it, is awful," Moodie said.

"In our case, everyone got covered, certainly the staff did, got covered in slime if you like. Trying to help them and everyone else clean that off is not an easy task."

Moodie said he felt most for his players and coaches.

"I feel for Jobe Watson and the players. They are such difficult situations to sort out. What really went on and who really was responsible and who should be accountable?" he said.

Moodie offered to resign when the Storm saga broke in April 2010. His resignation was refused, but he was stood down by Storm owner News Ltd, publisher of the Herald Sun, later that year.

"In our sense, I copped it because someone has to cop it," Moodie said. "And that's fine. As I've said many times, I was the chairman, my responsibility.

"At one stage I think I had 15 cameras and 30 journalists baying for my blood, one of the more uncomfortable experiences I've had. I accepted that it's part of the deal.

"It wasn't a case of saying it's someone else's fault. I mean, in a sense someone else had done it under our responsibilities, so we had to 'fess up and say this is what's happened and try and deal with it as best you can."

He said he didn't know who would take the fall at Essendon.

"I offered my resignation I think the day after because you think well, it's happened under my watch, I should resign," he said.

"On the other hand, you resign, well, you basically hand the exploded bomb to someone else and it doesn't necessarily help the situation."

Former AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson, who ran the league from 1996 to 2003, said everyone had to let the investigations run their course.

"You've got to wait until all the facts are known, all the inquiries are completed, all the experts have made their contributions and delivered their findings, and then you reflect on all of that in the coolness of day," Jackson said.

"Meanwhile I think you just get on with running the competition.

"It's very disappointing that some of those processes take so long ... it's got the capacity to reflect on the code and the clubs and the individuals ... but nevertheless it's critical that the processes run."